Balto. Co. could owe up to $19 million in pensions

According to the Baltimore Sun, in 2007, The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued Baltimore County for age discrimination saying that older folks had to pay more into their pensions than younger folks. Beginning July 1, 2007, the process changed and everyone paid a flat rate, but the people who were in the system before July 1, 2007 were paying a rate based on their age. In 2012, a federal judge ruled in favor of the EEOC and officials in the Kamanetz administration vowed to aggressively fight the EEOC and took the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, who decided not to hear the case last month.

County Council attorney, Thomas Bostwick, sent a memo estimating damages costing anywhere from $17 million to $19 million but also stated that number could eventually rise, as well. County attorney Mike Field also gave an estimate of about $19 million but didn’t want to say for certain any particular amount because he thinks it’s too early in the process. He also predicts the EEOC will hire actuaries to figure out how much should be paid out to each employee (of which there were over 16,000 employees and retirees) but did not say if the county was going to get it’s own experts.

When appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, the county hired an outside firm at a price of $42,000. Mike Field said that the county’s legal staff will be handling the case moving forward.

Mr. Field also stated there are three possible ways the employees and retirees could be paid back and that would be 1) county taxpayers, 2) from it’s pension advisor, or 3) from pension plan participants by adjustments to their contributions. The Baltimore Sun asked if the county will suggest it’s consultant firm foot the bill but Mr. Field stated, “We’re exploring all of our options for how to move forward.”

Unfortunately, the County Council just found out recently, within the last few days, of the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the case. Field  stated that his office “simply forgot” to tell the council. Some council members were disappointed that they were on the losing end of the case and that they were not kept in the loop during the process.

The article pointed out other court cases the county has lost including the case with the police union in which the county had to pay out $228,000 in accrued interest while they fought court rulings in a separate case concerning retiree health insurance.

It’s unfortunate that Baltimore County continues to fight these cases and issues but my question is… who ends up paying the bill?

See full article from the Baltimore Sun here: Balto. Co. could owe more than $19 million in pension case